First, let me say this upfront: COMC is fantastic. There's no better place on the Internet for card collectors. It's basically a 24-hour-a-day card show, with an almost endless inventory and the ability to haggle with dealers. I've lost hours of my life on that site, and I'm sure most collectors have, too.
But COMC is also devious. Before the site lets you make an offer for a card, it requires you to buy enough store credit to cover the amount. The idea, I'm sure, is to make sure that every offer is genuine in binding -- if a seller accepts, the deal is done. You can't suddenly move the goal posts.
Of course, sellers don't always accept your offers. And when that happens, you wind up with a bunch of money that you'd already mentally decided to spend burning a hole in your digital pocket. And when that happens, this happens:
I liked Bill Clinton as a president, but I can safely say that I have never in my life wanted a baseball card of him. And yet, I own one. All because I happened to stumble across it while there was a bit of leftover cash in my account. And that's what I mean by devious. Most collectors (or maybe it's just me and I'm projecting) can't resist cards. All it takes a little nudge -- whether it's nostalgia, a nice design, a cheap price -- and they'll buy. That's the collector's curse. And what's what COMC preys upon.
I ended up with this card of Bill Clinton because I wanted a framed Masterpieces card, which, to my mind at least, are some of the prettiest parallels around. I chose this one, which is a "green linen frame" parallel, because I thought it was an interesting and unusual image. And because it was less than a buck.
Of course, if I was going to get an example of the green linen frame, then I figured I should also pick up an example of the allegedly different "Windsor green frame." I mean, what if I decide to pursue a whole parallel set? I really should know which version looks nicer in hand, right? That's how Kirk Gibson wound up in my COMC cart, too. I chose it because this was a moment I remember from my childhood -- although I don't remember it fondly, since I was rooting for the Bash Brothers-and-steroids-fueled Oakland A's that year. Nostalgia is a powerful force. Just ask Disney. (For what it's worth, I cannot for the life of me see any discernible difference between the green linen and the Windsor green.)
I wound up with one other framed Masterpiece card in the form of this rookie of current Blue Jay shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. What can I say, other than that I'm a total sucker for framed cards. This is the green linen again, by the way.
Here's another rookie-parallel-of-a-current-Blue-Jay card. This time, though, the player is Russell Martin and it's a mahogany parallel from 2005 Bowman Heritage. This is actually a fairly thick card, thicker, I'm assuming, than the base cards in Bowman Heritage. Beyond that, though, it's a fairly boring card. It's between this card and the Clinton one for title of, "My worst (recent) impulse buy."
Staying true to the impulse buy/parallel cards theme, here's one more: A gold parallel of Jose Bautista from Topps' 2008 flagship set. Unlike the Martin, though, I don't regret this one at all. I've seen some other blogs rip the design of 2008 Topps, but I actually kind of like it. The team name in alternating colors looks really good, I say. And while I'm generally not a big fan of the gold parallels in Topps' flagship sets, I make an exception when A)It meshes so well with the team colors and B)It is off a guy who is in the conversation for Greatest Blue Jay of All Time.
That's it for today. Hopefully it's obvious by now, but this was another post of stuff I picked up mostly during COMC's Thanksgiving Week sale. I've decided to ditch the "Black Friday binge" title for these posts, though. It was beginning to feel too...well...gluttonous.
I liked Bill Clinton as a president, but I can safely say that I have never in my life wanted a baseball card of him. And yet, I own one. All because I happened to stumble across it while there was a bit of leftover cash in my account. And that's what I mean by devious. Most collectors (or maybe it's just me and I'm projecting) can't resist cards. All it takes a little nudge -- whether it's nostalgia, a nice design, a cheap price -- and they'll buy. That's the collector's curse. And what's what COMC preys upon.
I ended up with this card of Bill Clinton because I wanted a framed Masterpieces card, which, to my mind at least, are some of the prettiest parallels around. I chose this one, which is a "green linen frame" parallel, because I thought it was an interesting and unusual image. And because it was less than a buck.
Of course, if I was going to get an example of the green linen frame, then I figured I should also pick up an example of the allegedly different "Windsor green frame." I mean, what if I decide to pursue a whole parallel set? I really should know which version looks nicer in hand, right? That's how Kirk Gibson wound up in my COMC cart, too. I chose it because this was a moment I remember from my childhood -- although I don't remember it fondly, since I was rooting for the Bash Brothers-and-steroids-fueled Oakland A's that year. Nostalgia is a powerful force. Just ask Disney. (For what it's worth, I cannot for the life of me see any discernible difference between the green linen and the Windsor green.)
I wound up with one other framed Masterpiece card in the form of this rookie of current Blue Jay shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. What can I say, other than that I'm a total sucker for framed cards. This is the green linen again, by the way.
Here's another rookie-parallel-of-a-current-Blue-Jay card. This time, though, the player is Russell Martin and it's a mahogany parallel from 2005 Bowman Heritage. This is actually a fairly thick card, thicker, I'm assuming, than the base cards in Bowman Heritage. Beyond that, though, it's a fairly boring card. It's between this card and the Clinton one for title of, "My worst (recent) impulse buy."
Staying true to the impulse buy/parallel cards theme, here's one more: A gold parallel of Jose Bautista from Topps' 2008 flagship set. Unlike the Martin, though, I don't regret this one at all. I've seen some other blogs rip the design of 2008 Topps, but I actually kind of like it. The team name in alternating colors looks really good, I say. And while I'm generally not a big fan of the gold parallels in Topps' flagship sets, I make an exception when A)It meshes so well with the team colors and B)It is off a guy who is in the conversation for Greatest Blue Jay of All Time.
That's it for today. Hopefully it's obvious by now, but this was another post of stuff I picked up mostly during COMC's Thanksgiving Week sale. I've decided to ditch the "Black Friday binge" title for these posts, though. It was beginning to feel too...well...gluttonous.
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